Sunday, March 11, 2012

Q&A Interview and Contest with Eleri Stone

Hello everyone!LITERAL ADDICTION and Book Monster Reviews are very happy to welcome Eleri Stone to our sites today!

Eleri enjoys reading just like the rest of us, and her favorite genres are fantasy and paranormal romance, so that’s what she tends to write.

She likes the mystery of the hidden, the forgotten, and the unknown.She enjoys quietly strong heroines and honorable men, real life conflict, and people who are smart, strong and brave enough to meet life head on.She believes in love.The kind of love that ties people together as has the power to redeem regardless of circumstances. She loves stories that remind her that even in the boring and stressful times you never really know what might happen next.

Eleri is the proud creator of the LOST CITY SHIFTERS series, which currently has 2 installments – “Redemption” and “Mercy”.If you want, you can read our Review of “Redemption” HERE.

Her new release, “Demon Crossings”, was just released on January 2, 2012.

For those of you that are not yet familiar with Eleri’s work, we thought we’d give you the synopses of the 3 books to get you up to speed.

“Redemption”

LOST CITY SHIFTERS Book #1:

Blamed for a heinous crime and banished from his tribe of Jaguar shifters, Adriano will do anything to buy back his rightful place—even steal a priceless artifact. First, he'll have to seduce Sophie Martin, an archaeologist researching the temple ruins and the one person who stands in his way.

Sophie wants to uncover the artifact as well—not to sell it, but to study it. It could unlock all the secrets of an ancient and mysterious civilization. But it's hard to focus on her work when the distractingly sexy Adriano is nearby.

What begins as a seduction quickly turns into mutual passion as Adriano's touch awakens a side of Sophie she'd kept hidden—and arouses his Jaguar instincts. To preserve his people's secret and earn his redemption, Adriano needs the artifact. But when a rival thief kidnaps Sophie, Adriano will be forced to choose—between the people who rejected him in the past, or the woman who could be his future…

“Mercy”

LOST CITY SHIFTERS Book #2:

To the Yaguara, an ancient jaguar shape-shifting people living deep in the Amazon jungle, nothing matters more than strength. Iada is their champion; genetically pure, she has been trained since birth to fight. Her destiny is to become the next Queen of the Yaguara by winning the tournament of succession—a battle to the death.

Her opponent is Gabriel, a half-blooded outcast whose mother was human. To everyone's shock, he defeats Iada but does not strike the death blow—instead, he extends mercy, thereby claiming her as his mate.

Despite their enmity, the attraction between them is powerful, and soon they are mates in more than name only. Their mutual distrust serves only to fuel their passion—two champions bested only by their overpowering desire for each other.

But Gabriel has an agenda that threatens the most basic tenets of Yaguara society—and that will force Iada to choose between her people or her King.

“Demon Crossings”

Private investigator Grace tracks a kidnapped child to middle-of-nowhere Iowa. Encountering a strange creature she knows can't be a local animal, she doesn't need her psychic abilities to figure out the sleepy town is not what it seems. When she meets the intriguing Aiden, she's plunged into a world of Norse gods and fire demons where the Wild Hunt still rides the night.

Aiden needs Grace's help to cross the portal between worlds and rescue his daughter. Grace is unlike any woman he's ever met. He's drawn to her courage, distressed by her vulnerability, and doubtful of her motives. But he knows that her visions are the key to defeating the enemy and bringing everyone home alive.

Grace wants a future with Aiden, even if it means she'll never have a normal life. When a test run to the portal takes a terrifying turn, they must learn to finally trust each other or Aiden's daughter, and their chance at love, will be lost forever...

They sound good, right!!?Before you go and hunt them all down at your favorite bookseller, let’s get to the Interview and learn some more about the author behind them.

Eleri Stone Interview

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:Hi Eleri!We’re very happy to have you here today and are thrilled to let the world know about “Demon Crossings” and the LOST CITY SHIFTERS series.Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us.

Q1): Can you tell us 3 things about yourself that we couldn’t find out easily on the Internet?

ELERI: Hmmm. That’s a tough one. Let’s see…

I hate shopping.

I love road trips.

I have a serious weakness for men in flannel.

Q2):What are 3 things that always make you smile?

ELERI: My first cup of coffee in the morning.

My six-year-old’s plans for how he’s going to acquire his next set of LEGO’s. He has an entertainingly devious mind. (His last scheme involved hocking the furniture.)

I live in Iowa now but grew up near the ocean and we try to go back once a year. I love that moment when you can smell the salt in the air. It feels like home to me.

Q3):If you could spend the day with any of your characters, who would you want it to be and what would you want to do?

ELERI: Well, since Demon Crossings is too close to home, I’m going to go with Iada, the heroine in Mercy which is set in the Amazon rainforest. She scares me a little but I would love to see the rainforest through her eyes.

Q4):What are some of your hobbies and/or things that you enjoy doing when you’re not writing or taking care of other author business?

ELERI: I like to experiment with recipes. Pinterest has turned out to be dangerous for me. As a family, we camp and kayak a lot during the summer. (Although not nearly as much as we’d like!)

Q5):How has your road to publication been so far?

ELERI: I was very much a closet writer before I became published. It was something I loved to do but until the last few years, I didn’t consider sharing any of my stories. One great part of the road to publication has been breaking that isolation. I’ve met so many wonderful writers and book lovers along the way. The online community is great for that and being around people who love books as much as I do is amazing.

Q6):We know this is a tough question, but who are a few of your personal favorite authors, and what are a couple titles in your TBR pile/list right now?

ELERI: Patricia Briggs and Karen Marie Moning are two of my favorites and both have new releases this year. Yay! I’m looking forward to KMM’s Iced series and by the time this posts will have devoured Fair Game.

Q7):What are the best and worst parts of writing for you?

ELERI: Writing the first draft is my favorite part. That’s when everything is new and fresh and wonderful. When I hit the end and have to turn back to the beginning to revise is when it turns into work.

Q8):What is a typical writing day like for you?Do you have a routine that you follow, specific things that you have to have with you to get the creative juices flowing, unique writing quirks you must adhere to, etc?

ELERI: I have three kids so my writing schedule conforms to their school and activity schedules right now. I’m lucky in that we recently moved and for the time being I’m able to stay at home. I shove everyone off to school and write in the morning. The afternoons are usually for errands and such. And then by the time the kids are in bed, I’m usually ready to dive back into a story.

Q9):What type of scenes (dialogue, action, sex, etc) do you enjoy writing the most and why?

ELERI: That depends on the story. When I first get an idea for a scene, it usually comes to me in an exchange of dialogue that somehow changes the course of the story or the relationship of the characters and developing that is very rewarding. I also really enjoy writing sex scenes because I find that’s when my characters are at their most raw and vulnerable. It’s a great time to show readers a part of the characters that even they don’t realize about themselves yet.

Q10):Was there any specific inspiration behind the creation of the LOST CITY SHIFTERS series?

ELERI: I’ve always had a fascination with the Amazon, the last largely unexplored frontier on the planet. In college, I took a lot of coursework on early Central and South American civilizations. And shifters! I love, love, love shapeshifters.

Q11):What about for “Demon Crossings”?

ELERI: There’s an area in northeast Iowa that’s part of the driftless region, called that because it wasn’t glacierized during the last ice age. It’s a strange part of the state with rolling hills and towering rocky bluffs. We camp there every year. It’s beautiful, sparsely settled and was the initial inspiration for Demon Crossings. The people who live there have strong Scandinavian roots which also tied in nicely with a paranormal romance based on Norse mythology.

Q12):How many books do you have planned for the LOST CITY SHIFTERS?

ELERI: Right now, I have one more book planned for Lost City Shifters. It wraps up the storyline that started when Gabriel won the Yaguara crown in Mercy and started a civil war among the jaguar shapeshifters. But…I’m also not ruling out the possibility that I’ll revisit that world at some point in the future.

Q13):Is “Demon Crossings” a standalone, or do you plan a series?

ELERI: Demon Crossings was my 2010 NaNoWriMo project and I originally intended for it to be a standalone novel. I couldn’t let go of one of the secondary characters, Fen, and recently finished writing his story. He’s one of the Hounds who, in addition to possessing the ability to transform into great snarling beasts, have a genetic quirk that makes them bond to the first woman they have sex with. So he’s a shapeshifter, a virgin and just…a nice guy who has the bad luck to fall in love with his best friend’s arranged bride.

Q14):What’s up next for Eleri Stone?What do you have going on in the next couple months that your readers might be interested in?

ELERI: There’s the third book in the Lost City Shifters series, tentatively titled Salvation. I have a fantasy romance novella on submission, Spellwoven – think Moroccan bazaar in a magic-based world. I’m polishing up Fen’s story and just finished writing an old west paranormal romance, kind of a Texas Rangers versus zombies story.

Q15):Is there anything special that you’d like to say to your readers while we have you here today?

ELERI: Just…thank you! Thank you for reading my books and for taking the time to let me know what you think about them.

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:Eleri, thank you so much again for being with us today.We’re very happy to help you promote the LOST CITY SHIFTERS series and “Demon Crossings”.We’d love to have you back to promote your next big release if you’d be interested.

ELERI: I’ll definitely take you up on that. Thanks again for having me!

Eleri is graciously offering up an eBook of Demon Crossings to a winner from Book Monster Reviews and another winner over at the LITERAL ADDICTION Website.

TO ENTER:

Make sure you are a member of the Book Monster Blog (by clicking on the “JOIN THIS SITE” button at the top left hand corner of blog page), and then post a comment on the interview with your email address.

*Any comments without an email address will NOT be entered into drawing.

Don't forget to drop by the LITERAL ADDICTION website (http://www.literaladdiction.com/) and follow the directions and links to enter their contest for an extra chance to win!!!

Demon's crossing sounds great. I haven't been reading a lot of shifter novels lately but I go through my moods ;) I have one child so I can't even imagine trying to write stories with 3 kids around. All the power to ya..lol Thanks for the post and chance to win your book. I'd love to get my hands on a copy. Have a wonderful day =)follow as Tanyaw1224Tanyaw1224(at)yahoo(dot)com

I read Demon's Crossing and I love it. I hope to read soon Fen's story, and I'm very happy that Eleri decided to write a story about him.I love K.A. Moning too :-) and the Fever Series.I think my next book is going to be : Redemption.Bye Cinzia

Thank you everyone! Cinzia, I'm so happy you liked the book:)@Tanya1224-It was hard to find time to write when the kids were little but once our youngest started preschool, it changed everything for me.